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Google Says Removing 'Reader' Link In Gmail Was A Mistake, Aims To Bring Back Monday
Jan 24, 7:31AM
Hmm ... Maybe RSS isn't dead after all? After the replacement of the Google Reader link in Gmail with a link to Google Photos caused a user revolt on Friday, Google has vowed to bring the link back and tells TechCrunch its removal was accidental. And while Google is uncertain as to exactly when the highly dramaticized link will be back, the Gmail team is working hard to fix it and is targeting Monday morning, according to representative Victoria Katsarou. 
NSFW: On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're A Journalist
Jan 24, 6:22AM
So here's an odd thing. Since TechCrunch was acquired by AOL, there has been a slight but appreciable uptick in the number of stories we've run about our new parent company. In the last month alone, we've reported their Q1 goals, three new content partnerships, their new SVP of technologies and even their latest billboard. None of this, I should hasten to add, is because AOL has told us to write about them; so far the company has remained true to its promise of staying editorially hands-off. Instead, I suspect our new-found interest in the goings on at 770 Broadway is more a variation of availability bias: we hear a story about AOL and, whereas a year ago we might have (perhaps unfairly) shrugged off the thought of covering a dying company, today we think "oh, yeah, I wonder what Mom and Dad are up to now". So then, given that our editorial ears prick up at every squeak of our corporate overlords' floorboards, it's an odd thing that this week's New Yorker profile of CEO Tim Armstrong failed to get even the most cursory mention on these pages. Not least because it was pretty damn favourable about Armstrong; describing his rise from entrepreneurial genius to potential "savior" for AOL and even quoting Eric Schmidt saying: "He is among the best and most inspirational sales managers I have ever worked with". The profile got loads of coverage elsewhere, so why did no-one here comment on it? Maybe the rest of the article provides a clue....
Good Thing For Green Tech? GE Chief, Jeff Immelt, To Chair Obama's Council On Jobs
Jan 24, 3:01AM
On Friday, President Obama appointed General Electric's chief executive, Jeff Immelt — an advocate for carbon cap-and-trade — chairman of his panel of outside economic advisors, the newly branded Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. GE is one of the world's largest manufacturers of clean energy and related technologies. The company makes everything from large wind turbines, to electric vehicle charging stations, to good old lights and appliances. Could the rising political influence of Jeff Immelt be a good thing for green innovators in the U.S.? Could clean tech newcomers, small businesses and competitors suffer from policy endorsed by the CEO of the established giant? 
The AirPlay Network
Jan 23, 10:47PM
Week One of the Age of iPad was barely weekended when Keith Olbermann was removed from his position at NBC/Comcast. I missed his final show, mostly because I stopped watching it and all the cable news channels once the election was over. But then I remembered we are now in the Age of iPad, and guess what I found when I turned on Apple TV. There it was right in the podcasts section, ready to stream. Parsing the language I heard the same thing we heard earlier when Steve Ballmer fired Bob Muglia, when Eric Schmidt was kicked "upstairs," when I was asked to leave along with my wife and a friend from the Crunchies because the room was too full. In the last case, I refused to move, waiting until the venue manager moved on to people more her size. I wonder what would have happened if Muglia just said, no, Steve. I'm not going anywhere. We'll get back to Eric and the boys in a minute, but in the Age of iPad, all is not as it seems. Take Olbermann for instance: firing him seems like exactly what NBC doesn't want. It dredges up the recent Leno fiasco in a visceral way, suggesting that even if Conan's new show might as well be emanating from Siberia, at least he suffered no bad will for telling NBC where they should get off. By contrast, I wouldn't touch NBC at 11:30 with someone else's hard disk.
Impossible Software – Is This What The Future Of Video Advertising Looks Like? (TCTV)
Jan 23, 7:53PM
I bumped into a cool startup in the hallways at the DLD Conference in Munich, and figured there's only one good way to share what they're building with you: shooting a quick video. The name of the startup is Impossible Software, and their game is, essentially, dynamically bringing product placement to the digital video advertising industry. 
Fly Or Die (Crunchies Edition): GroupMe, Uber, Square
Jan 23, 5:15PM
In this week's episode of Fly or Die, the show where CrunchGear editor John Biggs and I attempt to predict the survival chances of hot new products, we did a special Crunchies edition. Each of the companies we feature—GroupMe, Uber, and Square—was nominated for a Crunchie award. At some point in the show, a founder of one of the three companies comes on to respond to our verdicts (we don't know who it is until he shows up, which is part of the fun). You can watch the entire 20-minutes show above, which starts with GroupMe, or skip directly to the segments about Uber or Square.
Outfit7 Hits 60 Million Downloaded Apps, Made $200,000 On Christmas Day Alone
Jan 23, 5:08PM
Tomorrow at the DLD Conference in Munich, mobile apps developer Outfit7 is set to announce that its iOS and Android apps have hit the 60 million downloads milestone, mere weeks after hitting 41 million. In fact, over 1 million downloads were logged on Christmas day alone, netting the company nearly $200,000. Outfit7, which makes the hugely popular Talking Friends series of apps, says it expects to exceed 100 million total iOS and Android apps before the end of Q2 2011. 
Sean Parker Calls The Social Network "A Complete Work Of Fiction"
Jan 23, 4:49PM
Early Facebook backer Sean Parker, on stage at European conference DLD, just gave perhaps his most comprehensive reaction to The Social Network movie yet, calling it "a complete work of fiction." During the end of the movie his character, payed by actor Justin Timberlake, is at a party where drugs are being taken and various beautiful models are wondering around. "I kind've wish my life were that cool," said Parker.
SheFinds Helps Women Shop More Efficiently Online
Jan 23, 4:45PM
SheFinds Media is a blog network and buying guide that helps busy women shop online. SheFinds, which includes MomFinds and recently launched BrideFinds, publishes editorial content featuring click-to-buy items applicable to its specific vertical audience. Editors curate shopping guides for products within each vertical. For example, MomFinds will publish editorial guides for the best toys for kids under 3 years old. Founded in 2004 by Michelle Madhok, SheFinds aims to be a one-stop shop for women's shopping needs. Madhok was part of the founding team of CBS.com, and headed AOL's women's channel, and found there was a need for a women's-focused site that used human editors to curate the Web for interesting and useful products.
Why I Don't Buy the Quora Hype
Jan 23, 3:00PM
Let me start with a disclaimer: I am not writing this in my capacity as a university professor or researcher; I don't claim to be an expert on social networking; and I will be happy to be proven wrong—I have no vested interest in the success or failure of Quora. And given the fire I've already taken for tweeting an opinion that defies the Valley's infinite wisdom, I know that this post will offend many in Silicon Valley—as did my piece on why I Craigslisted my iPads. But I just don't believe that Quora will "rule" or become anything like Facebook or Twitter. It has been a very nice private club; but it's not for the general public. Quora is a new question-and-answer site on which a few notable members of Silicon Valley's tech elite have expressed their opinions. Some of the discussions have been very informative; some, completely misinformed. Some questions are of general interest, such as: Will there be a tech sector crash in the near future?; some are obscure: Who are the most successful entrepreneurs with Iranian roots?; some are just plain silly: How much does Netflix spend on postage each year? Quora's membership is growing largely because of the attention that TechCrunch has given it (including the Best Startup award). Over the last month, I received dozens of messages from TechCrunch readers asking what I think about Quora and why I am not using it.
Apple's First Verizon iPhone Commercial Also Touts AT&T: "Two Is Better Than One"
Jan 23, 8:07AM
Two days ago, Verizon posted their first iPhone teaser commercial to their YouTube page. The tagline? "It begins." Now, it looks as if Apple is ready to follow suit with its own marketing muscle. But they're not just playing up the Verizon iPhone, but rather the fact that it's now on two networks in the U.S. The tagline for this one? "Two is better than one." The 30-second clip below was posted to YouTube today. It's a fairly standard iPhone ad with a hand holding up an iPhone 4 in front of a white background. Except in this commercial, there are two iPhone 4's side-by-side. As Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz plays, the dueling iPhones perform the same tasks in the same way — though there are differences in the pictures being looked at, and the websites being visited, etc. Then the focus shifts to one the devices to show off iPhone 4's features. Then it's back to the two phones, culminating in a side-by-side FaceTime conversation. The phones are then removed, revealing both AT&T and Verizon logos. Then the tagline is put up. Then the iPhone 4 logo.
Using Your Blackberry In Illinois Could Send You To Prison
Jan 23, 4:38AM
This is one of those technology and legal stories that is hard to believe in this day and age. If you are in Illinois, you better be careful where you point your cameraphone or voice recorder. Chris Drew, a Chicago artist, and Tiawanda Moore, a former stripper, are facing up to 15 years in prison for eavesdropping, according to a story in the Chicago News Cooperative. Drew used an Olympus voice recorder to commit his crime and Moore used her Blackberry. Moore is scheduled to go on trial early next month for recording Internal Affairs investigators when she filed a sexual harassment complaint. Moore claims the investigators tried to get her to drop her complaint, so she took out her Blackberry and started a recording which resulted in her arrest. Drew goes on trial in April for recording his conversation with Chicago police officers, without their permission, when he was arrested for selling art without a permit. It's just a misdemeanor to sell art with no permit, but the voice recorder is causing much bigger problems. Both are being charged under the rarely enforced The Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which makes it illegal to audio-record either private or public conversations without the consent of all parties. Illinois is one of 12 states with "two-party consent" eavesdropping laws on the books.
Video: The Crunchies Song!
Jan 23, 12:50AM
Those of you who attended the Crunchies last night or watched the live stream were lucky enough to see Jonathan Mann perform a new song that he wrote specifically for the event. "The Crunchies Song" sums up the event pretty nicely. Find both Mann's live performance and his official video for the song below. You'll note that this is actually Mann's 750th song on YouTube. Yes, he has created a song everyday for over two years now. You might recall some of them, as we've posted a number of them — like the one he wrote about me, the one he wrote about Steve Jobs, the one he wrote about the iPhone 4 antenna (which Apple even played at their press conference), the Steven Slater song, and, the one that first put him on our radar, the Bing Jingle (and the follow-up). Mann even wrote a song to congratulate us on the AOL deal.
Gillmor Gang 1.22.11 (TCTV)
Jan 22, 8:00PM
The abrupt retirement/resignation/deck chair shifting of Google CEO Eric Schmidt couldn't have been timed better — if you were Facebook. As dissected by the Gillmor Gang, the news of Larry Page's reascension to the throne seemed just one more shoe dropping in the wake of Steve Ballmer's axing of Bob Muglia, Steve Jobs' step back to focus on his health, and other reboots from companies including HP, SAP, and I forget. Actually, mentioning HP and SAP served to bore me into stopping the last sentence. The one connective tissue is the tectonic shift in technology caused by the iPad, or as @Scobleizer pointed out, the iPhone. Though @DannySUllivan and @KevinMarks insisted on extolling the virtues of the free and open Web, there's no doubt in my mind that Apple's (and particularly Steve Jobs') combination of design, control of a hungry niche marketplace, and political savvy adds up to a defining moment that rolls up media, technology, consumers, and the enterprise.
TechCrunch Disrupt Winner Qwiki Hits No. 1 On Google Trends 'Hot Searches' In The U.S.
Jan 22, 6:11PM
Buoyed by news that early Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin led an $8 million investment in the startup, TechCrunch Disrupt winner and visual search startup Qwiki has hit no.1 on Google Trends 'Hot Searches' in the U.S. That's a pretty impressive feat for a startup that was virtually unknown six months ago. And the company is still in private alpha. What makes Qwiki so compelling is its ability to generate media on the fly that combines text, audio, and animated photos. It presents information in a highly visual way, assembling photos and spoken text from Wikipedia and other sources to create visual guides to millions of topics. The startup's technology is no doubt disruptive and could become a completely new way in which we consume information. 
Weekend Giveaway: Win A Bulletproof IoSafe Hard Drive
Jan 22, 6:04PM
This is truly some bulletproof storage, amirite? Today we're giving away the ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive, a warranted drive that can withstand a shotgun blast, salt fog, and all kinds of other crazy stuff. The drive, which is shipping at the end of the month, costs $149 but can be yours for the low, low price of one comment. 
Arrington Ambush Interviews Crunchies VC Of The Year Yuri Milner
Jan 22, 5:59PM
Last night at the Crunchies, Yuri Milner of Digital Sky Technologies won the VC of the Year award (Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures was a close runner-up). Milner has almost single-handedly created a new class of mezzanine venture capital, allowing companies like Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga to postpone IPOs while still getting a ton of liquidity and huge valuations. Before he could leave the stage after accepting his award last night, Michael tried to ambush interview him. Milner deadpanned his way through the every question, and the result was pretty entertaining (see video). Arrington asked why his investment philosophy is working out so well, noting that Milner invests at what many people at the time think are absurd valuations. "Because of absurd valuations," replied Milner.
Stock Photo Marketplace ClusterShot Hits The Deadpool (Unless …)
Jan 22, 11:41AM
Back in April 2009, I wrote about a site called ClusterShot, which aimed to rival Getty Images-owned stock photography juggernaut iStockphoto. Almost two years later, the company's calling it quits - unless a reasonable buyer steps forward with a reasonable offer. Ironically enough, last I'd heard about ClusterShot was when they reportedly reached profitability less than a year after launching.
Sony's Cloud-Based Qriocity Music Service Debuts In France, Germany, Italy And Spain
Jan 22, 11:13AM
Sony has just announced that Qriocity, the strangely named cloud-based digital music service it aims to rival Apple's iTunes with, is now immediately available in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The service, which is apparently called "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" in full, made its debut in the UK and Ireland in December 2010, and provides users with access to a catalogue of millions of songs from labels like - surprise - Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as several independent labels and publishers.
Boom – Apple's App Store Hits 10 Billion Downloads
Jan 22, 10:33AM
Here we are. Apple has announced on this promotion page that there have been 10 billion downloads from its App Store since its inception. It's a huge milestone in the life of the App Store, which lets people downloads games and software programs for their iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads.
Facebook Just Landed $1.5B; Open Source Alternative Struggles To Raise $10,000
Jan 22, 10:28AM
Facebook just raised $1.5 billion at a $50 billion valuation, having secured just south of $2.4 billion since the company was founded. Contrast that with The Appleseed Project, which aims to establish an open source, fully distributed and decentralized social networking software suite to rival Facebook. I just got an email from the project's lead developer, Michael Chisari, prompting me to participate in their crowd-sourced fundraising efforts. So far, they've raised about $2,200 in 7 days, so they're roughly $7,800 short of their $10,000 fundraising goal.
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason: I'm Following The Arnold Schwarzenegger Guide To Leadership
Jan 22, 5:46AM
This evening at the Crunchies, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason took home the coveted CEO of the Year award. But we couldn't let him leave the stage without taking the opportunity to ask him a few questions about the red-hot company. Our own Michael Arrington kicked things off by asking about Groupon's press release for its recent funding round, when it "Raised, Like, A Billion Dollars". Groupon and Mason have long had a very amusing and irreverent sense of humor. But how long can they keep that up before it causes a deal to fall through, or something else undesirable to happen? Mason replied that he's taking the Arnold Schwarzenegger approach to leadership. That is, he's taking the first part of his career and doing everything stupid he can think of, so people have no expectations for him down the line (then again, he did just win CEO of the Year, so he's not setting the bar too low).
Congratulations Crunchies Winners! Twitter Takes Best Startup Of 2010
Jan 22, 5:45AM
This year's fourth annual Crunchies Awards have just concluded, and we're happy to say that it was an overwhelming success. For those who weren't at the event or watching our livestream, we've included the list of nominees and winners below. Our most sincere congratulations to the winners and to all of the nominees as well. It was an incredibly tight race for many of the categories, and it's safe to say that everyone on this list is at the top of their field. We'd like to take a moment to point out Twitter's win for "Best Overall Startup Or Product", the first time the company has won a Crunchie in this category. Twitter has become an indispensable part of social communication and a key ingredient in the fabric of the web. And congratulations to Groupon's Andrew Mason, who won for CEO of the Year; Mark Pincus, who took Best Founder of the Year, and Quora, which took Best New Startup in 2010. 
TechCrunch Giveaway: An Apple iPad #TechCrunch
Jan 22, 5:07AM
We've given one away before, and we are doing it again. Earlier in the month we asked our Facebook fans a question we were curious about. We asked, "Choosing from all of the cool gadgets we write about, if you had the chance to win one, which one would you want?" We had hundreds of fans chime in and the number one thing people wanted was an Apple iPad. We thought since Apple had such a tremendous quarter, an iPad is the number one thing our fans want, and the iPad just won a 2010 Crunchies Award for Best Device, why not give one away?
What Scares Twitter CEO Dick Costolo? Foreigners. (Well, Scaling For Them.)
Jan 22, 4:38AM
Tonight at our Crunchies Awards in San Francisco, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo took the stage with our own Michael Arrington. The topic of discussion? Well, it was sort of all over the place — more of a fun conversation. Mike asked Costolo what he thought about the recent news that Eric Schmidt was being replaced as CEO of Google by co-founder Larry Page. You'd think Costolo would have some insight about the news simply because he himself just took over as CEO of Twitter, replacing Ev Williams, a co-founder (who also stayed with the company).
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